Yes, it came as a surprise to me too.  Apparently, even though my life has turned topsy-turvy lately, I still have this here blog that needs updating.

So, updatery it is!

The semester has started, which for me is a check in the positive column.  I’ve got two classes – World Prehistory in the mornings and Aztecs, Maya, and Olmecs in the afternoon.  Between the two, there are about 120 students in my care for the next four months.  Bwahahahah!  The energy of teaching and interacting with students is a welcome infusion, as is the groundedness of a regular rhythm to my weekly schedule.

The aftermath of dealing with my father-in-law’s sudden passing continues to play a big role in our day to day lives and will, I suspect, for a long time to come.  Right now it’s tough because we’re dealing with emotional consequences as well as cold practicalities — up this weekend is a trip to Orlando to clean out the house my husband grew up in (which is full to the brim but has sat vacant for the last 2 1/2 years), pack the remainder up, and move everything to New Orleans.  So, it’ll probably be a bit quiet on the blog front for the next few days — though I will keep the writing prompts coming (someone should be getting writing done, after all).

Which brings me to…writing.  Writing?  What writing?  Actually, it’s not quite that bad.  I have a three hour block between my two classes (ostensibly my office hours) and that’s proved a great time for making short bursts of headway on writing projects.  Here’s where I’m at:

Project Awesome is inching toward the 1/3 mark at the glacial rate of about a chapter every two weeks 😦

Revisions to the third draft of ABSENT are stalled (double sad-face)

Short stories, though, are moving forward.  I’ve got two that I’m actively revising right now — a lighthearted space caper and a moody horror story.  I’m hopeful I can get these out to market in a week or so.

And that’s the run-down.

*takes a deep breath and dives back underwater*

See you next week.